As shown, for example, in Radwill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,758, articulated railroad car connectors are a known semi-permanent type of connector between two railroad car ends in which both car ends rest on the same railroad truck. Such articulated connectors find widespread use in the railroad industry.
Disadvantages which have been encountered in articulated railroad car connectors include wear problems on extended use because of the heavy forces encountered in the operation of railroad cars. It is particularly undesirable for the large connector members, which are welded to the railroad car sills and then are connected together in articulated connection, to degrade through wear since their replacement is expensive and difficult.
Additionally, while railroad car connectors of the prior art may utilize slack adjusting wedges (see the Radwill patent cited above, and see also Altherr, U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,146), which wedges are provided to compensate for wear during operation, the wear condition of such parts in prior art connections and the amount of remaining possible slack adjustment is not easily determined in prior designs by casual inspection. Some designs of the prior art permit examination of the slack adjusting wedges through small inspection holes in the connector. If adjustment of the wedges is required, in many designs of the prior art the slack adjustment wedges must be raised, the articulated connector disassembled, and the railroad cars separated enough to put shims behind the follower blocks or slack adjusting wedge assemblies.
The articulated connector of this invention exhibits improved wear resistance characteristics. Particularly, wearing of the connector can be minimized for longer useful life of the connector. Additionally, the slack adjusting wedges in the connector of this invention are readily visible from the exterior, and can be shimmed without having to put one railroad car on jack stands and moving the other railroad car away. Thus, not only does the articulated connector of this invention exhibit longer useful life, but maintenance, repair and adjustment are easier than in the prior art.